February 2013

Tomorrow morning, at the moderately ungodly hour of 7:45 AM, I shall begin my annual spring journey westward to celebrate the weekend-long commencement of convention season that is Emerald City Comicon. I’ve written about ECCC several times before, so I won’t rehash in any great detail. We’ll leave it at this: it’s in Seattle, and it’s one of the best shows around. ECCC is the first major comic convention of the year for most folks, and then there’s at least one big show per month all the way through to New York Comicon in October. I try to keep it to one per month, because there’s a point where the fun of hanging out at shows is no longer outweighed by the stress and intensity of getting to them.

In any case, I haven’t been to a big con in about five months, so I’m rested and ready to rock. I’m really looking forward to this weekend – these shows are like weird family reunions. Actually, who am I kidding – family reunions are nowhere near as fun as cons.

I have a lot going on at ECCC this time around, and I wanted to post my schedule so that if any of you want to find me, you can. After the schedule, I’ll give the lowdown on the various projects I have in the hopper – some cool things to report.

First, I will be sitting at table I-15 in Artist’s Alley for the majority of the show. I’ll be near an amazing set of creators, so even if you could care less about chatting with me, it’ll still be worth your time to hit up section I. ECCC always has one of the best Artist’s Alleys around, and I can’t imagine this year will be any exception. I will have the following things for sale:

27 (First Set and Second Set trades)

Strongman (Vol. 1 and the always impossible to find Vol. 2 – both of these will be pretty limited quantities, though)

The ECCC variant cover version of Strange Attractors #1 – 26 pages of absolutely gorgeous images of New York City and mathematicians doing nefarious things with complexity theory. Also limited in number. We only made fifty, and I’m holding a bunch back for various purposes. Here’s what the cover looks like:

Emeraldy!

T-shirts! I still have some 27 shirts left, and I’ll bring what I have.

I will be on three panels:

1. ARCHAIA PRESENTS: HOW I BROKE INTO COMICS (AND HOW YOU CAN TOO!) -Friday, 4 PM, Room 3AB. This will be a great opportunity for aspiring writers and artists to learn how a number of established pros got into the business. Aside from me, you’ll also be able to hear from Royden Lepp (Rust), David Marquez (Ultimate Spider-Man), David Petersen (Mouse Guard) and others.

2. THE ONI PRESS “REVOLUTIONIZE COMICS” PANEL -Saturday, 6PM, Room 3AB. Oni’s going to be announcing a new title here, and if you’re at all interested in whether or not that’s a series I’m writing (it is), then come, enjoy. I would guess you’ll get to see some of the amazing art from… ah, well, wait and see. Honestly, I’m incredibly proud of this project, and I’m thrilled that I’ll finally get to tell you guys something about it. Even if you could care less about what I have going on, the panel will also boast Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt from Sixth Gun, and Joelle Jones (working with Cullen on Helheim.) Oni panels are always fun.

3. WRITERS UNITE – Sunday, 12:20, Hall C. I’ve done this panel four or five times at conventions across the country, and it is a DO NOT MISS event. The ever-voluble and informative Jim Zub moderates a panel of skilled, successful writers (and me) as we share our thoughts on successful comics writing. It covers everything from story techniques to pitching to format to networking. No subject is off the table, and it’s often wildly funny. The emphasis is on practical, useful information that isn’t typically disseminated. This year, the panel will feature Jim, me, Cullen Bunn and possibly another foxy young comics superstar. Really worth your time if you want to write comics, and I’m not just saying that because I’m on the panel.

Beyond the panels, I’ll also be signing posters and the ECCC Strange Attractors variant at the Archaia booth, #808, on Saturday from 1-2 and Sunday from 10-11.

Should be a great show – looking forward to seeing all of you.

And now, a few quick updates on what’s what…

First, SWAMP THING. All is well. Very well, I think/hope. The art for my first issue is incredible, the cover looks sweet, and basically, I can’t wait until the first week of April when you guys can take a look. I’m scripted fairly far ahead, and I’ve got detailed outlines for up to the end of the year. Swampy’s in for a wild ride. (Speaking of which, I really need to do a post on my research trip down to Louisiana. That was a great time, and I learned a lot.) I wish I could tell you more than this, and I’ll see if I can’t get approval to post some art. By and large, though, I think fans of the character will be happy, and we might even convert some of those sad folks ignorant of the greatness that is Swamp Thing.

If you want to hear more about my approach to the story and working in DC in general, I’d recommend this podcast. It’s a great, detailed conversation between Josh Flanagan of iFanboy.com and myself. We talk about Swamp Thing and so on, but also the creator-owned stuff and working in comics in general.

STRANGE ATTRACTORS – my next big OGN project, is available in digital chapters now from Comixology. Get it here. It’s a fun story about two complexity mathematicians who use their theories to turn all of New York City into sort of a giant machine, and what happens when they turn it on. The full, gorgeous hardcover (which I have seen in mockup form and CANNOT WAIT to hold in my hands) will be available in late April, it seems. It came out incredibly well, especially the design. A large part of the story revolves around these intricate maps of NYC’s systems, and those were incorporated into the book design in a very cool way.

There’s also the new thing for Oni, which I’ll talk more about next week, plus a totally unannounced limited series that I think will start around August, being drawn by a very talented friend of mine, and a one-shot featuring a character that’s arguably the entire reason people decide they want to work in comics in the first place.

See you in Seattle!

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About the Site:

Charles Soule – writer.

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